Dietary Fat, Eicosanoids, and Immunity

This chapter discusses dietary fat, eicosanoids, and immunity, which is a system of organs, the circulatory lymphatics, the cells comprising these, and the multitude of molecules involved in the immune response.

Abstract

This chapter discusses dietary fat, eicosanoids, and immunity. The immune system is a system of organs, the circulatory lymphatics, the cells comprising these, and the multitude of molecules involved in the immune response. The response has a dual nature, although the two branches of the response are intimately intertwined. The responses are because of two major subclasses of lymphocytes, the T and the B cells, which both arise from the pluripotential cells of the bone marrow. Both have the ability to acquire a memory of encounters with specific antigens. The other branch of the immune response involves the B cells, which are also stem cell in origin and mature in the bone marrow, liver and gut, and in the bursa of Fabricius in the chicken. They are primarily activated by bacteria and undergo further differentiation into mature B cells. The chapter also discusses the role of phagocytes. There are two major classes of phagocytes in man, the circulating phagocytes that include monocytes and granulocytes, and the fixed phagocyte that are mainly macrophages.